Trouble from the Sewers
by ShadowHawq35
Summary: Spiderman was on an inspection of the city and somehow wound up in the sewers, where he found this...thing. Now he has gathered the Superheroes from Marvel and things are about to get a little...wierd. Rated T just because I am paranoid like that
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is one of my first fanfictions, so please forgive me if there are any plot holes or if the characters aren't completely in character. Okay…what else? Oh yeah, thanks for clicking on this, and I do not own anything Marvel because if I did, the world as we know it would never be the same again. Enjoy! **

Peter sighed and leaned back in his chair, only-half listening to the argument unfolding between Tony and Logan as he counted the cracks on the ceiling. Beside him, world renewed scientist Reed Richards was talking quietly to his wife, both completely ignorant to the heated conversation. About a dozen other superheroes were standing around them, either contributing to the argument or trying their best to tune it out. Peter could hardly even remember what it was about, but he figured it was something stupid, as usual. Finally Ben Grim stood from where he had been dozing off against the wall, his stone body making a slight shifting sound as he moved.

"Alright, alright. Let's calm down. You guys are even worse than matchstick over there." He rumbled, stepping in between the two fighting heroes and putting a large hand on their chests, pushing them both a step back. Logan smirked and crossed his arms, puffing on his cigar as he glared at Tony. The billionaire blew him a mocking kiss but let it go, an unusual decision on his part.

"Thank you. Now can we please get to the problem?" Ben pleaded. Peter saw his chance and immediately stood.

"My pleasure." Peter walked over to the beat-up computer in the corner, idly wondering why whenever the heroes got together; it just had to be in _his _tiny apartment. He quickly powered it up and clicked on a file, bringing up a picture of... he didn't know what.

Its head looked vaguely humanoid, completely bald and covered with tattoos, with intelligent blue eyes that seemed to gleam with anger and cruelty. It's body was…just weird. Slightly bent over, resting on its balled up fists like an ape, with patches of fur on its shoulder and stomach. It's arms and legs were all bulging muscle, and it looked ready to leap at the camera, fangs beared.

The rest of the team crowded around Peter, all peering in fascinated horror at the thing on the screen.

"What _is _that thing?" Sue whispered, taking Reed's hand. Peter cleared his throat.

"I found it in the sewers, while I was inspecting the city. I managed to get a few shots, but I really have no clue as to what it is. I'm not even sure if it's an animal or a human at this point." Peter clicked through a couple more pictures, taken at different angles, glancing at Bruce for help. The scientist scratched his head, staring in bemusement at the monitor.

"I can't say I really know, Parker. It's really not like anything I've ever seen before. If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's…some sort of mutation. Do you think it may have been affected by Gamma radiation, like I was?" He asked, adjusting his glasses slightly. Peter shrugged and traced the creature's lines of hard muscle with his finger as he spoke.

"It has relatively the same components as the Hulk; the body composition seems loosely related to yours whenever you… change. But somehow it just doesn't…seem right. I really don't know with this." They fell silent as everyone just stared at the strange creature.

"…So what do you think we should do about it?" Logan finally asked, taking a drag from his cigar. Peter glanced at him.

"Could you please put that out? It's gonna stink in here for a week." Logan grumbled but reluctantly did as Peter asked, tossing the cigar into a wastebasket.

"Thank you. Now, to answer your question, I vote we should get…maybe four, five of us to go down there, and check it out. It might just be a mindless animal, and it doesn't mean us any harm. But I still think we should make sure." There were slow nods all around Peter and he smiled slightly in return.

"Which of us will be going?" Thor spoke for the first time, his deep, rumbling voice coming from directly behind Peter. Only years of being a highly active superhero kept him from jumping 20 feet in the air.

"I think maybe Reed should decide that, he's the genius here." Reed looked up sharply, already opening his mouth to protest, but the expectant looks that everyone turns to him stopped him short.

"Well…okay. I think…I think Spiderman should go, since he's who saw this…thing first. Then let's bring Wolverine, Hawkeye, Steve and then finally, me." Everyone nodded as their name was called.

"Hey, what about me?" Tony and Johnny demanded simultaneously. Reed shrugged.

"I don't think your fire and your suit would work very well in close quarters like that. You'd most likely end up frying your teammates if it came down to a fight." Both grumbled, but accepted his decision.

"When are we leaving?" Steve asked. Reed glanced at his watch.

"As soon as we suit up." He answered. Steve nodded seriously and quickly exited the room, followed by Hawkeye. Logan looked suspiciously up at the others in the room, prompting a sigh from Peter. Did the Wolverine _still _not trust them?

"What will the rest o' you be doing?" He asked. Sue stepped forward.

"We will be cross-referencing and researching anything to do with this creature, and see if we can find anything that vaguely resembles it." She answered. Logan gave an approving grunt and, with a nod to Peter, disappeared out the door.

"How come _you _get a nod from him?" Johnny complained.

"Maybe because he actually _does _something other than sitting around all day on his lazy-" "You should probably get ready too, Peter. We'll be leaving pretty soon." Reed quickly interrupted Ben with a warning look at his old friend. Peter smiled dryly.

"Well, I would, but there happens to be a ton of super humans residing in my apartment." He hinted. Reed nodded, looking sheepish as Sue took charge.

"Okay everyone! Let's get down to work. Bruce, can you, Storm and Ben head over to the public library? Maybe you will be able to find some books on the topic over there. Stark-"

"How come I'm on last name basis? You called them by _their _first names." Tony interrupted. Sue sighed.

"Stark I want you to go to Stark Tower and work on your computer programs. With you, I'd like Natalie, Johnny and Katy." Tony winked.

"You got it, sweetie." Sue covered her face with her hands. She continued to speak through them.

"Thor and I will stay here and monitor the squad's progress, just in case you get into anything dangerous." Reed nodded his acceptance and the teams slowly filed from the room.

"Research? C'mon! I thought I was done with school!" Johnny complained as Ben hauled him out the door. Reed was the last to go, with a quick wave.

"We'll rendezvous at the front of your hotel room." He started, but then stopped, probably imagining the looks they'd get if a bunch of superheroes were crowing the doors of a creaky building.

"Never mind. We'll meet you up on the roof, got it?" Peter hesitated.

"Stupid question but Reed…how do we all get up there? Not all of us can fly or spin webs." Reed chuckled. "Not a stupid question at all, but it does have a simple answer. You can carry Hawkeye, and I can bring Logan and Steve. And before you ask, no, I cannot fly, but I think I could stretch an arm to the top of the building, it isn't _that _tall." Reed laughed and then left, gently closing the door behind him. Peter stared after him in bemusement, but then shrugged and waltzed over to the chest where he usually kept his suit if he wasn't wearing it.

"Hello old friend. We meet again." Peter muttered as he lifted the top of the chest, and pulled out his costume-ah hem, I meant suit-in all of its spider-webby goodness.

It took maybe two minutes to get completely suited up, so he figured he should probably take the liberty to give M.J a quick call, remembering his promise to keep her caught up on all of his little adventures.

"Hello, this is M.J speaking." She answered on the second ring.

"Hey, M.J. It's Peter, and I just thought you should know that me and the guys are going for a night out." It was their code for: I am taking the Avengers to go and save the world again, you know how it is.

"Okay, love you! Be careful, Pete." She answered with a laugh.

"You know I am." He said. They said their good-byes and hung up. Peter fought for a minute to control the goofy grin that had spread over his features. Talking to M.J always made him ridiculously happy for no reason whatsoever. He turned to the window, ready to make his escape, and nearly jumped out of his skin. Logan was waving at him from just outside, hanging in mid-air, suspended by an elongated arm that was wrapped around his waist. Peter opened the window, nearly whacking Logan in the face.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, staring at the x-man in bewilderment.

"You were taking too long. I was starting to wonder whether you'd just ditched us, Spidey." Peter began to stammer an apology, when he suddenly froze and peered at Logan with suspicion.

"What if I had still been changing when you "checked up" on me?" Peter asked, horrified. Logan just laughed.

"See you in a bit, Spider." Logan did some sort of signal and Reed-wherever he was-hoisted him up and out of view. Peter shook his head to rid himself of the disturbing images that had entered his head, before clambering out of the pen window and shooting a web at the building opposite him, quickly manoeuvring himself down to the ground, where Hawkeye waited patiently, his bow strapped to his back.

"Sorry I'm late." Peter apologized, meekly offering Hawkeye his hand. Hawkeye inclined his head and grabbed on. Peter craned his neck upwards; searching for an area he could latch onto and eventually decided on the chimney.

"Hold on." He warned, shooting his web and holding it tightly. Hawkeye nodded again and they took off, soaring upwards, towards the waiting heroes up above.

"Hey guys." Peter greeted them as Hawkeye and him joined the others. He released his grip on the archer's hand and disconnected the web.

"Okay, so the manhole closest to where I first saw the thing is only a few blocks away, we should reach it in no more than five minutes. Everyone okay with that?" Everyone nodded at the same time, creepy, but Peter could accept it.

"Okay, so…that's it. Reed, given the way your arms can stretch, you can probably swing around just like I can, right?" Reed nodded, although a little hesitantly. "I've never really tried, but it could probably work…" Reed trailed off. Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I think so too. So could you carry-" "I can move on my own, thanks. I'll head along the ground; meet you at that manhole you were talking about." Logan interrupted. Steve nodded, and Hawkeye inclined his head in agreement.

"I'll choose the ground-way too, if that's okay, Peter." Reed piped up and Peter nodded again.

"Okay, I guess I'll go by air then." I quickly gave Reed the location of the manhole and watched as Logan's metallic claws slid out.

"See you later, Spidey." Wolverine gave a mock salute and jumped off the building, grappling down the edge of the building by sticking his claws into the brick. Peter watched him in exasperation.

"Is it really necessary for him to destroy my apartment? He could have just asked for a lift down." He muttered. Steve let out a short laugh at that.

"Well, to stay on your good side, I think I'll ask Reed to give _me _a lift." The super-soldier said, glancing pointedly at the scientist.

"No problem." Reed wrapped his elastic arm around Steve's waist and slowly lowered him over the side of the building, careful not to let him crash into the walls or windows.

"I bet a bunch of the tenants are going to get quite a shock to see Captain America outside their windows tonight." Reed chuckled and drew back his arm as soon as he saw that Steve was on solid ground. As Reed was helping Hawkeye, Peter turned away and shot a web to the next building over.

"I'll meet you guys there." He informed Reed before swinging. Lurching through the air suspended by nothing but a thin web was somehow exhilarating, feeling the wind in your hair and knowing that one slip and you could end up a pancake on the street below. Every time Peter did it, he felt strangely proud, knowing that what he was doing by all rights should have been impossible, yet he was swinging away almost everyday. It just came so naturally to him…like he had been doing it every single day of his life. To lose his powers would be like losing an arm or a leg, which in short, would suck. A lot.

A couple minutes later, Peter touched down a few centimetres from the manhole and crouched down beside it. He hadn't noticed this before, but the manhole was covered with swirling designs that Peter had never seen before; he traced his finger along one, feeling the deep carvings that had to go at least a few centimetres deep.

"Watcha doin' there Spidey? You look like you just can't wait to go down there." Logan's mocking voice sounded from behind him, and Peter spun around, seeing the rest of his team jog up. He smiled weakly.

"It should be…interesting." He said in way of answer.

"What are you waiting for then?" Logan jogged right past him and lifted the cover easily, sliding it onto the road, revealing the metal ladder leading down into darkness.

**Yay! First chapter is complete! Please review to let me know if this needs any changing up and stuff. Next chapter should be up fairly soon… Okay, t'ill next time! BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, second chapter is up! I don't own anything in regards to Marvel or anything like that and yeah… hope you enjoy! **

The team stood silently, staring down at it, until finally Steve spoke. " Looks appealing. Who wants to go first?" Without answering, Logan grabbed the first rung on the ladder and swung himself down so that he was halfway inside.

"See you down there." He said and was gone. Hawkeye went next, followed by Steve and then Reed. Peter glanced at the discarded manhole cover once more, trying to puzzle out the weird symbols. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they looked kind of…ominous, like a prophecy waiting to be told.

"You comin' Spidey?" Logan called up. Peter shook his head to dislodge the feeling. Probably just graffiti. He grabbed the wall, not even bothering with the ladder as he reached up and pulled the cover overtop, plunging them into darkness.

The descent down the side was quick; Peter even passed some of the others on the ladder as he clambered down the slick wall, his sticky fingertips clinging to vertical wall with no more trouble as if he were crawling on the floor.

He landed with a wet splash and looked up, straining to see his companions in the gloom. A couple more splashes and a curse told him that they had landed safely next to him.

"Okay, so did anyone bring a flashlight?" Peter asked sheepishly, cursing himself for forgetting one.

"Nice call, Spidey." Logan's sarcastic grunt sounded from his left. Peter felt his cheeks go red with embarrassment and for a moment he was glad the darkness-and his mask- concealed his face.

"Sorry." He muttered hotly, just as Reed said, "Wait, I think I may have one…" Peter heard the scientist rummaging, and the splash as something small fell into the water, and then a light flicked on. Right in his face. Peter shielded his eyes, and the flashlight dropped from his face with a quick apology.

"Good thinking, Dr. Richards!" Peter said approvingly. Reed didn't answer, just shined the beam down the lengths of the sewer.

"So do you have any idea where we will find this thing?" He asked. Peter shook his head.

"Not really, but I have a feeling if we search, we'll probably find it." Reed nodded and handed Hawkeye the flashlight as the archer moved forward to take the lead.

"Right, because the sewer system in **New York** can't be _that _big." Logan muttered sarcastically behind Peter. Peter sighed but ignored him, splashing through the water after Hawkeye.

Peter couldn't tell how long they had been walking; all he knew was that his legs were soaked, he was cold and Logan's continuous sarcastic comments from behind him really weren't helping. At one point, Peter just gave up slogging through the water and began to crawl along the roof, the water dripping from his suit and occasionally landing on Logan, who shot him an angry glance.

Just when Peter had been about to suggest that they give up and try again later, a loud crash sounded from further up the tunnel they were currently in. The group froze.

"What was that?" Peter breathed, glancing around at the heroes. Reed just shook his head and shrugged, and then his eyes grew urgent.

"Logan, what are you _doing? _Get back here." He hissed. Peter turned to see that Wolverine had gotten past him and was creeping towards the sound. He glanced back.

"We came in here to check this thing out; I'm not just going to sit back and ignore a possible lead." Logan whispered fiercely, continuing to slowly walk towards the sound. Steve turned and gave Reed and apologetic shrug before following Logan. Peter looked to the scientist for directions, and he just groaned.

"Let's go." No sooner had he uttered those words then a muffled yell came from ahead of them. Peter straightened in alarm and moved quickly along the ceiling to hover overtop of Logan and Steve.

"What happened? Are you guys okay?" He asked urgently, scanning them for injuries. Both looked up, startled to see him hanging there.

"Yes we are, Logan just hit his foot on something. No need to panic." Peter glared daggers at Logan, who just shrugged. Suddenly a rumbling shook the tunnel, catching Peter off guard and nearly knocking him off of the ceiling. He tightened my grip as the tunnels shook again, bits of the walls and roof raining down on them.

"What the hell was that?" Logan demanded as Reed and Hawkeye caught up to us. Peter shrugged.

"Earthquake?" He suggested, but Reed shook his head.

"I don't think so. It didn't feel right." They all looked at each other for a moment, before Logan started up walking again.

"We're not going to find out just sitting on our hands back there." He pointed out. The rest of the group hurried after him, with Peter taking up the rear. After a few minutes of no weird activity, Peter began to relax, thinking that Reed was wrong and it _was_ just an earthquake. But that was before he looked behind him.

The same creature that had been displayed a on his monitor not too long ago was staring at him, it's unnervingly intelligent eyes watching him with interest. Behind the creature were…five more of them, although two of them looked noticeably less intelligent than the rest.

"Guys?" Peter whispered. None of the team stopped.

"Guys?" Peter said again, a little louder as the creatures began to crawl towards them. When there was no reply, Peter raised his voice to a yell.

"GUYS!" The heroes spun around, their eyes widening as they took in the animals/people/things that were crawling up behind them. Logan's claws slowly slid out and he bared his teeth, but Reed stopped him.

"We don't know if they mean us any harm yet." He whispered. Logan cast him an incredulous look.

"Reed, look at those things! Do you really think they're interested in the Citizen of the Year award?" Reed didn't answer, just walked past Peter until he was standing in front of the creatures.

"Do you understand me?" Reed asked clearly. The thing in front dropped its gaze from Peter and focused on Reed, who repeated the question.

"Pitiful human." It snarled. Peter nearly fell off of the roof again; he was so surprised to hear it speak. Its voice sounded almost doubled, and it was scratchy and devoid of warmth or compassion.

"See that, Reed? Doesn't exactly sound friendly." Logan growled, holding his hand up deliberately so that his claws shone in the flashlight's beam that Hawkeye still held. Reed ignored him.

"What are you?" He asked, sounding as calm as if he were asking for someone to pass the salt. The thing made a horrible gurgling sound that after a few minutes, Peter identified as a laugh. The creature pointed a gnarled finger at Logan, who snarled.

"We are you." It faced Reed, but it was addressing Logan, who took a menacing step forward, held back by Steve's warning hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" The creature didn't answer Logan by way of words; instead it held out its hand, leaning heavily on another of the creatures for balance. Peter watched, fascinated, as long, broken claws slid out of its knuckles, almost exactly like Logan's, except these ones were bronze and broken almost in half. Reed took a step back from the sharp points and the creature grinned.

"You see now, humans? You ruined our lives. Your friends ruined the lives of people I know, and care for. For that, you must die. You must all die. Every last one, everyone who sympathizes with you, must die. You _will _die." It said the word "Die" with almost tangible relish, like it had been waiting its whole life. Reed glanced at Logan.

"You now have my permission to kill it." He offered. Logan smiled grimly.

"Looking forward to it." But before he could attack, even more creatures came up behind the first few, except these ones were different. A bunch were really tall, their heads stooped to their chins to avoid hitting the roof, and their limbs were twisted in ways that shouldn't even be possible, yet they were still able to walk, their eyes glittering maliciously. Another group had muscles that were previously bulging, but were now wasted, and their eyes were sunken, filled with agony.

Yet more were splotched with green, their eyes rolling in their heads, their roars echoing in the narrow tunnel, while others were covered with burn marks, their heads bald and filled with veins that looked like they were coursing with flame. There were a ton of others, but the ones that outranked all the others were swathed head to toe in spider webs that obscured their other features, walking on two legs, their eyes bright and hard, fixed on the group. But the thing that was most disturbing was that all of the creatures looked…human. Or at least, previously human. And they were all headed straight for the huddled group of heroes.

"Crap." Logan muttered.

**Cliff hangers! Yay! Next chapter will probably be up sometime this week, and as always, please, please PLEASE review! Reviews are my life! Okay, see you next chapter! BYE! **


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm baaaaaack! This chapter is slightly shorter than the others, but the rest should be longer…possibly…maybe…hopefully… um, anyway, I got one favourite woo-hoo! Thank you! You have made me super, super happy! Anyway, enough talking from me, I just want to say, I don't own anything except for the Edward Elric poster hanging in my room. Please enjoy!**

Peter backed up along the ceiling, farther from the creatures inching closer. Below him, his friends were readying themselves for battle; Hawkeye pulling out his bow, Steve brandishing his shield, and Logan crouching into a battle position, his claws out.

"Guys? No offense to your fighting abilities, but I really don't think we can win this one...or at least not without more people." Peter advised. Logan glanced up at him.

"Are you serious? What if these…_things _got out into the population? What then?" He demanded. But Reed looked thoughtful.

"I think Peter may be right with this one. We can come back, but with back-up.

"Got it." Hawkeye said, beginning to back up, with his arrow still notched in the bow and pointed directly at the oncoming creatures. Steve followed his lead, leaving Logan, Reed and Peter still there.

"Come on, professor. Let's move." Peter suggested, moving quickly backwards across the ceiling. Reed grabbed Logan's arm.

"We'll come back later." He insisted. Logan hesitated, but then shrugged Reed's arm off.

"Let's move." By now the monsters had almost reached them, so they turned and ran. The creatures, sensing their prey fast disappearing, let out an enraged chorus of yells and sped up. Peter glanced behind him to see a couple in their ranks fall, black arrows sticking from there chests, but the majority kept moving. As good as he was, Hawkeye couldn't kill them all, and certainly not while running.

"Where's the next manhole?" Logan yelled at Peter. His tone ticked him off, and Peter found himself shouting, "What do you take me for? I'm no expert in the sewage system!" Logan shot him a look.

"Could've fooled me." He muttered. Peter bristled but tripped as something caught his foot, sending him sprawling. He tried to leap back up, but his foot seemed stuck to the floor. He looked down to see…a web. It looked almost exactly like the ones that he shot, and it was keeping him stuck to the floor.

He swore under his breath and pulled at the web; it came apart in his hands easily; obviously not as durable as his own, but it had still served its purpose. It had slowed him down.

Peter glanced behind him to see one of the webbed things practically on top of him, swinging at his face. Peter ducked, but not fast enough. The blow sent him sprawling into a wall, cracking his head against the unforgiving stone.

"Ow." He muttered. Whatever they were, these things were fast. He felt a hand on his arm and lashed out, hitting Hawkeye across the face. He quickly realized his mistake.

"I'm so sorry!" He apologized as the archer pulled him to his feet.

"Let's just go." Peter nodded and nearly tripped again as Hawkeye started running full force, towing Spiderman behind him like a child. The others had stopped farther ahead, waiting, but Hawkeye motioned furiously for them to keep going. They hesitated, but then ran, way ahead of the two despite the speed at which Hawkeye was running. The group ahead turned a corner, and they lost sight of them.

Peter stumbled as a fireball shot past him; most likely projected by the burned creatures. He heard Hawkeye let out a small grunt, but was too busy freaking out and trying not get hit to take much notice. They reached the fork in the tunnels that the others had taken, but instead of take the same route that the rest of them had, Hawkeye turned down the other passageway.

"What are you doing?" Peter yelled. Hawkeye kept calm as he ran, the flashlight he had stuck into his belt casting abnormally large shadows on the walls.

"I want to lead them away from the others." Came his reasonable reply.

"Oh. That's actually pretty smart." Peter muttered before he was forced to duck as a web came flying at his head. They had been running for a good few minutes before Hawkeye slung his bow over his back again so that he could reach down and switch the flashlight off, surrounding them in inky black darkness. Before Peter could protest, Hawkeye yanked him to the side and pulled him into a crouch.

"What are you-" he began, but Hawkeye's hand clamped over his mouth, cutting of any sound. Peter could only lie still as the sound of uneven footsteps came closer and closer. He held his breath, hanging onto the vague hope that if he was completely silent, no one would notice a bright red and blue-covered man with a full face mask hiding in the gloom. Hawkeye carefully grabbed the flashlight, angling it so that when he turned it on, the beam hit the wall far ahead; making it look like whoever was using the flashlight was way ahead of where the two now lay. To Peter's surprise, the creatures ran right past them, their rank smell assaulting his nostrils as they flooded by. After a few more seconds they had completely passed the two, and were headed to where the flashlight pointed. Hawkeye waited until they were far enough away and then turned it off, getting to his feet and pulling Peter up with him.

"Come on; let's meet the others, before those things come back." He suggested. Peter only nodded and allowed the archer to pull him through the tunnels.

"Do you know where the manhole we entered in is located?" Hawkeye asked as he ran. Peter tried to work out their current location in his mind but failed, thrown off by the darkness and the similarity between every tunnel.

"No, I'm sorry." He whispered, glancing behind him and straining to see if they were being followed. He felt more than saw Hawkeye shrug.

"We'll find one, eventually."

**And this chapter has ended. The next should be up soon; it's already written and just needs to be uploaded. So please review if you liked it, review if you didn't like it, review if you like burritos…you get the point. See you at the next chapter! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I wasn't really planning on finishing this Fanfiction, but then I got really, really bored and decided to update. So yeah. I don't own Marvel (sad face) but I very much wish that I did. Please enjoy…**

Apparently, "eventually" meant exactly 72 minutes of wandering through the cold, damp sewers in the absolute darkness, with no idea whatsoever if they were moving in circles or not. Yay. Finally, he felt Hawkeye stiffen.

"What is it?" Peter asked fearfully.

"I found a ladder." The archer announced. Peter broke into a smile.

"Finally!" He answered with relief. Hawkeye clambered up the ladder and peter followed up the wall, suddenly feeling as if the walls were closing in on him; he needed air and he needed it _now! _So when Hawkeye finally lifted the manhole with a grunt and let sunlight stream onto their faces, Peter couldn't stop smiling. He leaped free and stood on solid, _un-wet _ground.

"Thank you!" He muttered, turning his face to the sky. Hawkeye didn't answer; he pulled himself up and stood beside Peter. He turned to pick up the manhole and a flash of pain flashed across his eyes, so quick that Peter almost thought it was his imagination. But he knew it wasn't.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked cautiously. Hawkeye nodded.

"Fine." He grunted, but he slightly favoured his left shoulder as he lugged the heavy manhole back onto the entrance to the sewers, letting it drop with a clang. If peter looked closer, he could see a biggish hole in the dark fabric.

"Let me see your shoulder." Peter said slowly. Hawkeye let out a sigh.

"It's not important. What _is _important is that we catch up with the others and try to find out what this new threat is." Hawkeye said impatiently. Peter nodded.

"Of course, right after I make sure that you didn't get hurt." He pressed. Hawkeye sighed again but didn't argue any further; he shrugged off his jacket and stood still. Peter carefully checked it over, with growing dismay. Underneath a scorched hole in his shirt, Hawkeye's skin was a really deep red and blistering, almost black, and it looked like it hurt like hell. Peter cast his mind back to when Hawkeye had rescued him when he had fell; they had been running, and a fireball flew by him…and then he remembered the quiet grunt of pain Hawkeye had muttered before they continued running. So he had gotten hit helping Peter. Peter quietly cursed himself for getting his friend hurt, and then looked back up to Hawkeye.

"That's a pretty bad burn you got. I really think you should get some medical attention soon…" Hawkeye shrugged him off.

"There's no time. We need to regroup." Peter let out an impatient noise.

"Fine, but once we've met up with the others, you _need _medical attention. That could easily turn fatal." Peter informed his friend, trying to shove down the guilt he felt. Hawkeye hesitated, but gave a curt nod, pulling his jacket back on.

"Okay, so…apparently a few of the Avengers were doing some research in the Stark Tower, maybe we should go there and then call up the others?" Peter suggested. Hawkeye inclined his head in agreement.

"Good idea. Let's go." The two of them set off, heading for the biggest building in the city, branded with large letters reading: STARK. Real subtle. Peter had always wondered why villains who had some sort of vendetta against Tony didn't just…go to his tower. Sure, it was well defended with all sorts of technology, but anything was achievable through willpower. Especially revenge.

Peter shuddered, remembering the time he had been under the influence of Venom. He had been fully aware of his actions, but he just hadn't been…himself. He had been spiteful and cruel, purposefully hurting M.J, something he would never dream of doing. He had been all about revenge then. Nothing mattered, except that he got even with others who had heard him, on purpose or unintentionally, it didn't matter. He felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Are you okay?" Hawkeye asked, concerned. Peter shook himself out of it.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thinking about Venom." He answered, quickening his pace. He didn't want to talk about it, especially not there. But Hawkeye matched his pace, his expression sombre.

"You blame yourself." It was not a question. Peter found himself nodding, unable to stop himself.

"You shouldn't. You know it wasn't your fault. You had no control over what happened to you." Peter whirled on him.

"You have no idea what it's like! Knowing that I did what I did! I hurt so many people…including M.J. I practically gave birth to Venom! It's my fault that Harry is dead!" Hawkeye didn't back down.

"Actually, I do know exactly what it's like. I became Loki's bodyguard, remember? I didn't just hurt people, didn't indirectly cause their deaths. I _murdered _them by my own hand." Peter could have hit himself.

"I'm so sorry! Of course, you've had the exact same experience…" Peter backtracked clumsily. Hawkeye shrugged.

"The point is, that wasn't you. That was Venom, and there was nothing you could have done otherwise. Got it?" He asked sternly. Peter didn't answer directly.

"How do you stand it? Facing people everyday that you've hurt….that you could have killed? How do you live through that?" He asked quietly. Hawkeye thought for a moment.

"I admit, it's hard. I personally met several of the families whose children or husbands or wives that I had killed, good people who were working with us. The way they looked at me…if looks could kill, I would have died several times over. But that's the thing. Looks _can't _kill, and neither can guilt, unless you let them. We're lucky, we have kind, caring people who surround us and understand that it wasn't our fault, who understand that there was nothing we could have done. Never forget the past, but don't let it crush you. Use it as strength, as resolve to defeat our enemies, instead of a weakness to pull you down." Peter stared at Hawkeye in amazement. He hadn't known that the stoic archer was even capable of giving speeches like that.

"Oh. Thank you." Peter said sincerely. Hawkeye didn't respond; he was back to business, all of his focus set upon the giant tower that was their destination.

Peter fell into step slightly behind his friend and tried to ignore the stares he was getting from the civilians. It wasn't every day that people saw Spiderman walking through the streets with a man carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows across his back. Pretty much everyone they passed gave them a second look, and then a third and a forth and a fifth, staring at them until they disappeared out of sight. Peter contemplated just grabbing Hawkeye and swinging towards the Stark tower, but he quickly discarded the idea. He didn't want to injure Hawkeye's shoulder even more than it already was, and swinging through the air wasn't the best way to avoid further injury.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they were both standing in Tony's penthouse, answering the questions that the other heroes were hurtling their way.

"You're saying that there's _more _of them?" Johnny asked for the fourth time in the past half hour. Peter sighed, gathering his patience.

"Yes. There are tons of them, and they all have some sort of grudge against us. All of us-mutants, super humans, agents…all of us." Tony reclined in his chair, watching them with a detached expression.

"And certain billionaires." Peter clarified. Tony's expression didn't change.

"Where are the others?" Natalie asked, pacing the length of the room.

"We don't know. I told you, I tripped and when Hawkeye came back for me, we were separated from the rest of the tea!. They could be chilling at home or still stuck down there and we wouldn't know!" Peter yelled, raking his hands through his hair in frustration. They were just going in circles, and it seemed that at this rate they weren't going to get anywhere.

"In that case, let's just go knock on their doors and ask for some tea before we go tromping around the sewers. Okay?" Johnny suggested, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Finally, they were getting somewhere!

"I'm good with that." Peter agreed, relieved.

"Can't I stay here?" Tony whined, but shut up at a sharp glare from Natalie.

"Let's go." Hawkeye pushed himself up from where he had been seated on the floor, wincing slightly as he flexed his burned shoulder. Peter silently told himself that as soon as the others were found, they'd deal with that burn. The others hadn't noticed, and neither Hawkeye nor peter brought it to their attention.

The group reached Reed's place in a few minutes, and Peter rang the doorbell, fingers crossed for an answer. Of course, there was none. Things were never simple for any of the heroes. Ever.

Next was Steve's house, but before Peter could knock, a ringing came from Tony's pocket. He turned and raised an eyebrow at the billionaire, who shrugged and brought the cell to his ear.

"Hello?" He waited for a second, and then his face changed.

"You're kidding? Nice job calling _now._ Yeah, on our way. Bye." Tony disconnected the call and pocketed his phone, turning to meet the team's expectant gazes.

"Pizza's here." He grinned at everyone's downfallen expressions.

"The rest of the sewer party are at your place." He jerked a thumb at Peter.

"They're waiting for us there." There were various noises of irritation and relief from the assembled team, and Peter felt like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank god." He breathed.

"Okay, so…back to Peter's crummy apartment again?" Johnny lamented. Peter took a deep breath to stabilize his nerves.

"Yup. Back to my apartment it is." He led the way towards one of the smaller buildings, his pace quickened now that he knew everyone was okay. They reached the apartment quickly and stampeded into Peter's room, ignoring the many looks thrown their way. Inside, everyone was waiting anxiously, either pacing the room or talking quietly. Peter noticed that not only were the others from the sewer team there, the team that had gone to the libraries were also awaiting their arrival. As soon as Peter and the others entered, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened to you two? We looked behind us and suddenly you were gone, along with those creatures." Steve said, walking up to Peter and Hawkeye. Peter looked to Hawkeye to explain, and the archer launched into a quick account of what had happened from the time Peter tripped to how they had evaded the monster-things. Everyone listened carefully, their eyes wide, except for Peter who just plopped into a chair and leaned back, taking off his mask and sucking in a breath. Though he looked relaxed, he was actually taking in everything they had seen, and trying to apply logic. He just didn't get how those things had come to be, let alone why they decided they wanted to chill out in the sewers. What did they mean when they told Logan they were him? How did that make any sense? And what the hell did they have against the heroes? Well…aside from the usual.

"Hey. You okay?" Peter's eyes snapped open and he glanced at Katy, standing in front of him with her hands clasped behind her back, a concerned look in her eyes.

"What? Oh. Yeah, I'm good." A sudden thought crossed Peter's mind.

"But Hawkeye was badly burned while we were escaping. We should probably get someone to check that out." Peter suggested wearily. Katy shot a glance towards Hawkeye, who was just finishing up his story and answering Reed's many questions.

"Huh. He hides it well. I never would have guessed." She murmured thoughtfully and Peter smiled slightly in agreement. Katy looked closer at him.

"But you should rest now. We'll take care of things while you sleep. Okay?" She asked. Peter stifled a yawn, but shook his head.

"I need to talk with the others, brainstorm some possibilities as to what those things were. Maybe I should try and take some more pictures down there. If I can just get a better look at them…" Peter trailed off, already wondering what best angle to take the shots, and how to find them without them finding him. But Katy crossed her arms stubbornly.

"You are not going to do anything else until you get some sleep. You didn't get any sleep last night, did you?" She demanded. Peter smiled sheepishly; he had stayed up really late trying to analyze the first creature he had seen, never mind all of these new ones.

"Not much." He admitted reluctantly.

"Okay. Now get some sleep. Now." Peter started to argue but the look in Katy's eyes shut him up.

"Fine. But wake me after two hours, got it?" Katy smiled sweetly and nodded. Peter gave a quick thanks and shifted into a more comfortable position on the seat. He planned to wait until Katy had drifted off to go and talk to the others before succumbing to sleep, but the moment he laid his head on the arm of the chair he was a goner.

He opened his eyes in a dream, surrounded by swirling fog and impenetrable darkness. He took a step forward and stumbled, just narrowly managing to catch himself before he hit the ground.

"Hello?" He called out tentatively, his voice echoing. The darkness seemed to be pressing in on him on all sides, suffocating him.

"Hello?" he called again, more panicked. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Suddenly Mary Jane appeared in front of him, bathed in a slight glow to set her apart from the dark. Her skin was flawless as ever, her red hair tumbling gently down her back.

"M.J!" Peter cried in relief. She just tilted her head as she watched him, her hair waving slightly in the non-existent breeze. Peter took a step towards her, but although she didn't move, she stayed the exact same distance away.

"M.J?" Peter asked, taking another step, and then another when he made no progress. She didn't reply, just watched him with a distant expression. Peter frowned and took another step and then broke into a run, covering ground quickly, yet no closer to the woman he loved.

"What's going on?" Peter cried in frustration. All of the sudden she was right there, standing a hair's length away Peter was moving too fast to skid to a stop, so he barrelled right into her, nearly knocking them both to the ground. Peter enveloped M.J in a tight hug, unreasonably relieved to be able to hold her. But she stepped away from his embrace, quickly putting a gap between them with such speed that Peter still stood with his arms out, looking like an idiot.

"Mary Jane, what's going on? What did I do?" Peter asked hopelessly, taking a step towards her. She took a step back to maintain the distance between them.

"It's your fault." Her voice was low and even but her eyes burned with sudden accusation. Peter gaped.

"What's my fault?" He asked.

"Everything. You killed them. You tore them from your families. You're to blame!" Her voice was rising, growing shrill. Peter moved forward quickly so that he could grab M.J's arms in a tight grip.

"Who did I kill? What did I do, Mary Jane? Answer me!" He yelled. Tears sprung in M.J's eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

"It's your fault, Pete. All your fault." She whispered. Peter opened his mouth to reply but M.J had disappeared, as had the fog, replaced by the familiar comfort of his apartment room. He sat up quickly, feeling sweat trickle down his back. He was alone in the dark room, still in his suit, freaked out by his bizarre dream. He felt a weight across his legs and looked down to see that someone had draped a blanket over him that must have slipped from his shoulders when he sat up. He draped it across the arm of the chair and stood walking slowly towards the clock hanging on the wall. 3:00 A.M. It was the middle of the night. No wonder everyone was gone. Why hadn't Katy woken him up?

Still spooked by his dream, Peter was seriously tempted to call M.J, despite the time of night, but he turned it down and just decided to take Katy's advice and try to sleep an entire night. He quickly changed out of his suit and into more comfortable clothes, trying to shove the dream from his mind. He plopped down into his bed ad was lay there for a while, trying to calm his racing mind. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Yet he was still so rattled by it. Eventually he was able to fall into a restless sleep, tossing and turning in his bed; the covers tangled at his feet as the moon slowly sank lower into the sky.

**And that's the end of this chapter! Hope you like it, please don't forget to read/review, I very, very desperately need it. Ciao! **


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